Various existing on-line services allow users to access and/or enter or send various specific types of messages, typically through one or more shared server systems. Such messages, referred to herein as “posts”, may contain various specific types of user content, such as text, graphics, or sound and/or video clips, and are logically organized into discussion “threads”. Each discussion thread includes a root post referred to herein as the “topic” post, and one or more “reply” posts presented in reverse chronological order beneath the topic. Examples of existing services providing discussion threads include on-line forums, such as newsgroups, conferences, and blogs.
A discussion thread is organized as a logical tree structure, and accordingly may include one or more sub-threads, each based on a root “topic” consisting of a reply within the higher level thread. Sub-threads may also sometimes be referred to as “branches” within the logical tree structure of a discussion thread.
Those skilled in the art will recognize “posts” are sometimes referred to by other names, such as “entries”, “messages”, etc., and that “post” refers generally to any specific type of message within a discussion thread. Similarly, “topics” are sometimes known by other names, such as “articles”, and “replies” are sometimes known by other names such as “comments”. Accordingly the terms “topic” and “reply” are also intended herein to be understood generally.
Problems with existing systems result from the fact that discussion threads tend to become voluminous, with multiple users posting short, spontaneous comments that often have little value. Furthermore, new visitors to a thread, and/or visitors to a thread that is no longer active, may find it difficult to quickly read through the thread without prior knowledge of its overall context.
Some existing systems have introduced tags to help solve these problems. Tags are category names that can be associated with posts. Tags enable users of some existing systems to view posts that are interesting to them, based on the tags associated with those posts. Some existing systems have provided users with the ability to tag posts. For example, Slashdot (www.slashdot.com) allows users to select tags from a fixed set of pre-defined tags. The system defined, fixed tag set of Slashdot includes tags such as “insightful”, “funny”, “irrelevant”, etc. Users can cause the system to display only those posts marked as “funny”, or “insightful”, etc., depending on their individual needs, and exclude from display those posts marked as “irrelevant”. Similarly, in the Microsoft® TechNet forums, the author of a post can mark that post as a question or an answer. As a result, expert users trawling a forum can cause it to display only posts tagged as questions, while novices facing problems might only look for posts that are tagged as answers.
Unfortunately, existing solutions are too limited in their operation. For example, previous approaches do not sufficiently address the needs of users visiting a discussion thread that has been inactive for a significant time. Such users are likely to be interested in retrieving posts based on the subjects addressed by the posts; fixed tags such as “funny” or “insightful” are not useful for this kind of post retrieval. Additionally, these existing systems require that tags be added manually on to specific, individual posts either by users or moderators, without automated aid from the system.
Administrator users of discussion forums also need better tag-based moderation tools and functions than are provided by existing systems. User participation in forums is directly correlated to how useful, up-to-date, and on-topic people perceive a particular discussion to be. Even if most posts are “on-topic”, the actual subject of a discussion could change as a thread evolves. For large discussions, administrators need a faster way to determine when threads get out of control and need to be moderated to stick to the original topic. Currently, administrators have to either perform simple searches for keywords to detect misuse, read each individual post in the discussion, and/or respond to user feedback messages and complaints. Clearly these solutions are insufficient and not reliable, and may quickly result in people simply not participating in active forums because they fear that their opinions will be lost in the noise of irrelevant posts.
For the above reasons and others it would be desirable to have a new system for discussion thread management. The new system should enable new users to effectively use large discussion forums, and allow the effective use of discussion forums that have been dormant for a significant time. The new system should also assist administrator users manage large discussion threads to control off-topic sub-threads and irrelevant conversations.